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Garrett takes rare spotlight at first town hall

Photo by Daniel Freel/New Jersey Herald Ken Collins, of Andover Township, standing second from right, asks the first question of the evening to Rep. Scott Garrett, R-5th Dist., during Garrett’s first town hall event Thursday at the Lafayette House.

LAFAYETTE — U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett, R-5th Dist., fielded questions from the public Thursday at what was believed to be his first town hall since his election to Congress in 2002.

Nearly 60 people turned out for the event, and while most expressed support for Garrett's positions, several peppered him politely but with probing questions on issues ranging from support for international trade agreements to whether the Republican-led House and Senate were doing enough to cut spending and red tape in Washington.

With a nod to the New Jersey Herald, which helped set up the event, Garrett began the evening by touting his fiscally conservative and constitutionalist approach to issues ranging from foreign policy and national security to budgeting, health care, and the economy.

“There's no such thing as the French, German, Greek or British dream, but there is the American Dream,” said Garrett.

But with the country facing a debt of $18 trillion and growing, Garrett said the American Dream — the belief that each succeeding generation would have it better than their forebears — was now in peril.

While mentioning President Obama by name only a few times, Garrett left no doubt about where he believed much of the blame belonged in stating his belief that the country was fundamentally on the wrong track.

“Everyone here in this room, you and your children and grandchildren, owes sixty-four thousand dollars,” Garrett said. “We're one people, one nation, with one future and one last chance to get it right.”

Don Lefante, of Sparta, harked back to that point during the 90-minute question-and-answer session that followed and questioned if the Republican-led approach to budgeting was doing enough to restore fiscal discipline.

Lefante noted that his district was represented by Garrett until Sparta, along with Byram and Hopatcong, was incorporated into Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's 11th congressional district in 2010.

“Rodney doesn't like the pounding I give him so he's stopped responding to me,” Lefante quipped.

But, referring to the need for a balanced budget, he said “we need something done now, not in 10 years.”

Garrett cited the difficulty of getting things done in Washington and noted that despite having a Republican majority, the Senate — because of the filibuster rule — required 60 votes to move a bill rather than a simple majority of 51 senators.

Garrett noted his support for a bill dubbed “REINS” — an acronym for “Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny” — but said the bill currently stood little to no chance of passing the Senate.

“The Senate is a place where all good bills go to die,” he said.

While most of the attendees were from Sussex County and the surrounding area, one — a 43-year-old who identified himself as a 9/11 first responder — came from as far as Jersey City. The man, Jaime Hazan, questioned why Garrett had not lined up yet in support of a bill sponsored by Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., to provide ongoing compensation to first responders with illnesses linked to 9/11.

“Why won't you call Peter King and co-sponsor the bill?” Hazan asked.

Garrett, in reply, asked Hazan if he would call on the bill's sponsors to remove spending items unrelated to its stated purpose.

“This is one of the most frustrating aspects of Washington,” Garrett said. “Why can't we have a system where a bill is about one thing and one subject? Show me a clean bill without extraneous matters, and I'll be right on it.”

On the subject of international trade agreements, Garrett faced scrutiny from Ringwood resident Richard Ebersbach and Frelinghuysen resident Wendie Goetz.

Ebersbach, the owner of a machine shop, said his business had suffered greatly in the aftermath of the North American Free Trade Agreement enacted 20 years ago between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Goetz decried the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership as an unconstitutional usurpation of national sovereignty by unelected international bureaucrats and the fact that aspects of it would not be fully known until after its enactment.

Under the proposed agreement, she said, “China could take the U.S. to a tribunal and sue American taxpayers for not accepting tainted Chinese baby food.”

Ebersbach, continuing that theme, asked: “If the agreement's so good for us, why can't we see what's happening?”

Garrett acknowledged that he was “on the fence” on the proposed agreement but suggested some compromise was needed to open markets abroad to U.S. goods.

On the question of sovereignty, Garrett said “Malaysia or Japan wouldn't enter an agreement with us if a dispute would have to be litigated in our courts.”

On energy, Garrett touted his support for an “all of the above” policy consisting of fossil fuels as well as alternate forms of energy such as solar, wind, and geothermal energy. He said for the first time in decades, the U.S. was potentially on the verge of becoming a net exporter of energy as a result of harnessing previously untapped natural gas and other fossil fuels.

Eric Obernauer can also be contacted on Twitter: @EricObernNJH or by phone at 973-383-1213.